I asked Master, but didn’t you say that you need to find this thing that belongs to this ghost before you can send it away? Master said that is indeed the case. The purpose of looking for these things is to understand the reason why this ghost remains. We Taoists are like judges when it comes to exorcising evil spirits and catching ghosts. Even if they are found guilty, it must be based on the severity of the crime. Formulate a reasonable way to deal with it. Like today's ghost, it came to us first, and we have to fight.
Master emphasized, brat, please remember that although humans and ghosts are in different ways, they are all sentient beings in the six ways. They are essentially equal. But if someone bullies you first, you don't have to take these rules to heart, otherwise, you won't know how you died.
In the following time, Master and I filled the classroom and started looking for things left by the ghost. Originally, Master thought it might be on the beams, but because there were wiring for electric lights on the beams, if there were anything there, it would have been there long ago. The construction team found it.
While I was helping Master search, I asked Master, now that we have dealt with the two ghosts, will the village be fine? Master said it must be fine, but this matter is not over yet. We still don’t know why these two ghosts reappeared in the world at this moment. We cannot make random guesses about this kind of thing. We must find the thing before we have a chance to judge. .
I asked Master, even if we find it, how can we judge it? Both of these people have been dead for such a long time, and the insider is probably no longer alive. The master smiled and said, brat, you have to know that in our industry, there are not only Taoist priests like your master and me, but also many strangers with their own crafts. As long as there is something belonging to a certain ghost, look for these. With help from Yishi, everything can be investigated clearly.
Finally, my master and I photographed a blue brick with a hollow sound on the outside wall. My master and I finally pried open the bricks with great difficulty, and found that it was hollow inside, and there was a booklet covered with kraft paper. There was a printed cross on the cover, which seemed to be something from this church. It was filled with densely written words. I looked carefully and found that it was a diary.
After turning a few pages, Master put the diary in his arms, blocked the brick wall, and then said to me, okay, let's go, and take time to study this diary.
After returning to the village, the master told Mr. Liu everything that had happened, and admitted that he was only looking for ghosts at the moment and did not understand the root cause. In the future, when the truth comes out, he will definitely tell him in a letter.
That night, Mr. Liu led the whole village to celebrate Master, so I followed suit and had a big meal of fish and meat. Early the next morning, Master took me to say goodbye to the villagers and set out on the way home. , Mr. Liu also prepared a lot of specialties from the mountains, live chickens, ducks, eggs, duck eggs, etc. as payment. These things were enough for Master and I to eat for a long time.
At this point, I have successfully completed my first order placement with Master. Master did not take me to visit the Bodhisattva Temple in the hometown of Guanyin, but directly jumped on the long-distance bus back.
On the way back, I was still unbearably sick and motion-sick, but Master paid little attention to me. He kept looking through the diary he brought back. When we got off the bus in Chongqing and walked home, Master told me about this diary on the way. Content. This diary was written by the priest in the church at that time, and this priest was the ghost sealed on the wooden man by the master.
He and the nun are both Chinese, but they are not from Mr. Liu's village. They were assigned by the church to serve as priests under the social environment at that time. The priest and the nun are secret lovers, but in fact the nun is not allowed to have such an incestuous relationship with the priest. But both of them were deeply involved. Other churches noticed this and wanted to report them.
In order to ensure that there was no proof of the matter, the priest deceived the nun into the grove in the name of a secret meeting one night, shot her dead, and buried her. After killing the nun, the words in the priest's diary began to be a little abnormal, saying that he often heard women's screams in the middle of the night, and sometimes even saw ghosts in the church.
The diary stopped writing at this point, so no one will know what happened next and why the diary was hidden in the wall if they didn't investigate.
Master told me that if I guessed correctly, the ghost that the priest often saw should be the ghost of the nun. The person he loved unethically, but killed himself in order to protect his own future. Of course it wants revenge. .
The priest's final death should also be related to this nun. The two continued to fight each other after their deaths, but neither of them affected the villagers. Decades later, the construction team arrives. During the renovation process, it is very likely that the diary hidden in the wall will be found. The ghost of the priest is instinctively protecting his secret, but the ghost of the nun insists that the priest be punished. There are some punishments, so there have been incidents such as villagers constantly bumping into ghosts and mist appearing in the woods.
Although the following is Master's speculation, it is well founded. It’s just that I didn’t understand a bit, so I asked Master, can those in the Western Church handle it well using our Chinese Taoist methods?
Master said that it does not matter what your beliefs were during your lifetime, what matters is the environment. No matter which culture people come from, they all have a natural fear of death. And they all take it for granted that people will turn into ghosts after death. So when a ghost appears, if you already know that you are a ghost, no matter what method you use, whether Buddhist, Taoist, or even Western religious methods, you will subdue them. The difference is only in the process, not the result. It's like killing a person with a knife and smashing him to death with a hammer. Death is death. The conclusion will not change, only the means will change.
I asked Master, what do you plan to do with this diary? The master said that when purifying the soul of the priest, he would look for opportunities to verify the authenticity of his guesses, and when the evil spirit of the priest's soul dissipated and sent it to death, he would burn the diary together.
Master said that this was to avoid leaving anything in this world that might make it go away unwillingly, because his previous bad behavior of killing the nuns would inevitably lead to suffering, whether he was here with me or in the underworld.
For a long time after that day, Master didn't take any orders like this to travel far away. Occasionally, Master would take me with him to some local places. Most of the time, I would just learn some simple spells from Master. Gradually, I am a person who likes to learn, so I learned quickly. The master's craftsmanship relies half on practice and half on memory. What he practices is writing spells, making seals with his hands, etc. Most of what he memorizes are some incantations corresponding to the spells, as well as stories about the experiences of his predecessors, etc.
It was not until 1964 that Master began to teach me military and horsemanship. I also built a small altar for myself in a corner next to Master’s altar.
At the beginning, I didn’t have the ability to finish things first and then take away the souls to use as soldiers like my master. Instead, I often went to places with strong yin energy to collect the scattered ghosts. Occasionally, I encountered resistance. , even if it is unfamiliar, even if it is handled in a hurry, I will treat it as a contact. In 1965, I had achieved some success in military and horsemanship. I was still not good at commanding soldiers and horses to do big things, but I was able to look for clues like my master.
Since talismans, water magic, conjurations, and soldiers and horses are no longer considered beginners, Master began to take orders more and more frequently from 1965. Some of the larger orders, Master took me along with him, and some were smaller ones. Master went with me, but left me to do it independently. He only watched from the side. If I did something wrong, he would remind me in time. Every time I went home after doing something, I had to dictate the process of the day to me again. Master, treat this as a review.
However, there is a rule between us master and disciple: if I accept anything from the victim, whether it is eggs, duck eggs, cabbage, rice, or gold and silver money, this part is considered as reward, and I must let the master enjoy it together. This is a Taoist rule. , Don’t forget Master’s kindness. This doesn't really matter to me. Anyway, I live, eat, and sleep with Master, so I don't have any problem with giving everything to Master.
At the turn of the spring and summer of 1965, Master came home one day and told me that in three days he would ask me to go to a certain lane on Qiansimen Road to find a man named Li Xiaoxi. Their child was frightened, but he was not. I was just shocked, but the master said he would teach me how to do this. It was a test for me to improve my skills to a higher level. After this incident is over, he will gradually take me to get to know the "foreign people" in his words who are active in this industry in Chongqing.
I usually listen to Master tell a lot of anecdotes about these strangers, and I look forward to them very much. Now that Master said this, I am looking forward to it even more. So I asked Master, how old is the child named Li Xiaoxi? The master said that he didn’t know either, and he would let me handle everything by myself, as long as I didn’t lose the face of our master.
I asked Master, will you still come with me this time? But the master shook his head and said he wouldn't go. This time everything was decided by myself.
